They're back.... Went in and checked my spot the other evening after a few warmer days in a row and it was as though someone had flicked a switch.
Lots of sign all over the place and to add to the excitement just coming dark...first bear of the year!!(outside a den)

Not the biggest tracks we saw...

Babies as well...

It was quite dark and I had to get within 60 or so feet which took long enough to make it even darker as it was a long way off when spotted..

Now the next evening....this happened.
A friend was also there with a video camera...

They are here... Maybe what it was wiping at in the last pic around it's eyes.
Few really warm days in the last week caused the green up but in the last week the woodstove has been going a few times too...brrrr
Might start it again here soon,it's plenty damp/raining and 16C outside maybe just 10C inside but needs the "edge" taken off to be comfy.
Started cutting my firewood yesterday,trying to beat the flies but losing...
It's a take it easy day today...inside stuff, & getting ready for my trip to Maine, leaving Sunday morning 2AM.

EDIT IN....That greener field behind the bear and in the first pic is Winter Wheat...it stays green even under the snow.

Met up with my video friend again tonight.
While both of us putting a stalk on a bear in another field in much better light this one appeared much closer to me but in the shadows of the treeline plus
it was paying all its attention to my bud and had no clue I was there until at around 45yds it started hearing the camera going off.
All shots from a monopod.
Today was the first day it has been clear skies in 27 and I wind up on bear that wants to stand in the shadows

This is about as bad/hazzardous as photography conditions have been for me in quite some time... heavy rain, dense forest, huge amount of undergrowth, slick/wet rocky uneven terrain, and black bear with cub fattening up on berries for the winter...

Litterally tripped over these 2 but mom didnt seem to be bothered by me... mind you I didnt push it. She was so unconcerned by me that she continued feeding while the cub wondered off to feed on its own.

Had the ISO set to 1600 and still only managed a shutter speed of 80. Considering the conditions Im quite happy with these 2 pics....

Seen this mom and cub as I was pulling into the Waterton Lakes National Park area. What struck me after the fact, and I wish I would have turned around and taken a pic, was the hord of on lookers at the scene which is becoming more and more the norm in Canadian National Parks. There were at least 30 cars and 1 tour bus, easily 80+ ppl, pulled over observing this pair with 2 park rangers controlling traffic as well as keeping the ppl out of danger and the animals safe... and this wasn't even on a weekend!

Just the day before they had to put down a bear due to this type of encounter where soemone got too close in the midst of 50+ ppl. The bear below was clearly uncomfortable with the gathered crowd and she made it more and more obvious. The rangers actually told ppl to start moving as the bear was looking for an open path to cross the road and couldnt find 1 as every time it moved on ppl would follow and obstruct its path.

No wonder encounters like this are becoming more and more hazzardous for both ppl and the animals. Tourist traffic is becoming heavier and heavier in our parks but in the end it is inevitable as more and more are looking to our parks as get-aways.

While I was driving the main highway in Banff a little later I was surprised to see one of the most exteme construction projects in a national park coming to an end. To protect both wildlife and ppl on the section of the trans-canada highway which cuts through Banff they are constructing a 2 to 3 meter high fence along both sides of the highway about 20 meters off each side of the highway through its entirety and about every 5 kilometers or so they are building an overpass meant for animals to use to get across the highway. These will litterally be the only places where animals can cross throughout the park on this stretch of highway. Another neccessary evil I suppose although I often wonder if they ever thought about reducing the speed limit in the park to help the situation.

I wonder how long it will be before preditory animals realise that prey is now being funnelled and humans have created a perfect ambush point for them and what the impact of that will be.

How much longer will our parks still be considered wild with these types of modifications to the natural environ being made and with this amount of human interaction with wildlife.

Another bear.... kinda scarey encounter... I broke one of my cardinal rules... I let the bear get between me and my escape route while I was trying to get a better angle for light... I had started out on the other side of him which was the absolute worst light angle I could have had so slowly worked my way around him til I got into position for the following shots.

Every once-in-a-while we become a little cocky when it comes to encounters like this... at least I know I do... this one was definately my wakeup call for this year.

this is when he noticed me and I noticed I didn't have a way out... I tried to make myself look real small and less threatening by crouching down hence the lower camera angle.

If they have fattened up yup... but if they still need to put on weight then they are dangerous to be around.... especially moms with cubs at this time of year.

There has been a bumper crop of berries this year so they look to be well fed. The bears on the eastern side of the rockies are definately bigger herbavours than the coastal bears are which also makes a difference. No salmon runs on this side of the rockies. They do however take down elk in the winter so one must be on their guard at all times.

In that area they will start hybernating in about 4 weeks or so... maybe a bit longer.

Bears at this time of year are also very focused on a particular food source... on the coast that would be salmon... in the eastern side of the rockies that would be berries. With this in mind.. if u know what you are doing... they can be more approachable... if there are no young ones involved.

Fortunately (for me) not out in the wild but from a safe vantage point in the zoo. Captured with Nikon AF-S VRII 70-200/2.8 at 200mm, f2.8, 1/60 sec - and i was totally shocked to see that even on a sunny day and at f/2.8 I only got 1/60 sec. But the bear was feeding slowly and the VRII helped with my shake...
Camera settings to vivid and apart from cropping and a slight vignette no other post-processing.

Nice. The captive bears I've seen are also often in difficult lighting conditions. You can turn the ISO up a little more, but I know there is a certain look you get with ultra-low ISO when you manage to avoid motion blur.

"I broke one of my cardinal rules... I let the bear get between me and my escape route while I was trying to get a better angle for light...

Every once-in-a-while we become a little cocky when it comes to encounters like this... at least I know I do... this one was definately my wakeup call for this year"

Good thing it wasn't your "first bad encounter".
Wrong sex/age bear to be pushin it with...

That said...cool lookin bear and GREAT SHOTS!

Had a very cool encounter on stand the other night.
Got to see two mommas both with cubs one triplets and one twins have a face off without contact.
The triplet mom won and the others left to wait their turn.
At the site the triplet mom was still very upset and treed her cubs several times.
I "thought" it was because of the other group but turns out it was a lone 275lb male approaching from directly behind and below me.
The three cubs at one point all stood and stared at the base of my tree and I knew it wasn't me so I glanced down to see the boar sitting about 12ft below and 10ft out from me.
He made his way down a small slope twds the site and momma again treed the cubs and huffed her fur out from her back to her paws (cool to see) then bluff charged the boar twice to within 2ft of him...he never flinched an inch.
Both times she charged him she was facing straight on towards me and only about 15-20ft away,boy did I wish I had the camera upgrade with video and sound!!! I think given the low light the higher ISO capabilities of video "might" have worked.
I'm definately going to remember that encounter for a long time as one of the best!!
Not sure I want to be on the recieving end of one of those charges tho...ever!!